Tallahassee, Florida – Anthony Phoenix Branca Foundation President Demetrius Branca will embark on the third leg on his mission to reach all 67 Florida counties urging legislators to make it illegal to hold a cellphone while driving in Florida. In the coming weeks, Branca will hit Florida’s panhandle, Orlando, Jacksonville and Miami as part of his tour, Driving Change for Safer Florida Streets.

Branca’s testimony has already prompted the cities of Tallahassee and Gainesville, as well as Collier and Union counties, to pass a hands-free resolution; eight other counties have expressed interest in passing the same resolution, which calls for what many traffic safety experts consider are “commonsense distracted driving laws.”

He will travel to the next round of commission meetings in his truck and trailer emblazoned with the Driving Change for Safer Florida Streets logo — armed with data underscoring that hands-free laws have immediate, life-saving effects.

For example, Oregon, which has the nation’s strictest hands-free laws with fines up to $1,000, is 31% less distracted than the national average and 16% less distracted than the other top states. In 2023, these laws have prevented over 5,000 crashes, 2,880 injuries, 23 fatalities, and over $200 million in economic damage.

Current Florida laws, which Branca worked to get passed in 2019, do not take into account that phones are used for more than just texting. They also don’t give officers the power to enforce them. Last session, the Florida House passed the Anthony Branca and Anita Neal Act, which would have required drivers in the state to remain hands-free while using cellphones, with unanimous bipartisan support. However, it died when the Senate failed to move the bill through to its first committee.

Branca launched the Anthony Phoenix Branca Foundation after his son, Anthony, was killed by a distracted driver in 2014, just one month before turning 20. Since then, Branca has joined thousands across the nation and state who have had their lives forever altered by a preventable automobile tragedy.

Due to the extensive news coverage the tour has received, Branca has been contacted by Floridians who have also experienced a loss at the hands of a distracted driver asking how they can help. He welcomes the support and the camaraderie, but the deaths weigh on Branca, who wants to prevent others from having their families ripped apart as his was a decade ago.

“Coming up on another holiday season, another birthday, without Anthony, doesn’t get any easier even a decade later,” says Branca. “Every single one is excruciating, and it’s made even more excruciating since the data clearly shows that passing common sense laws clearly saves lives – yet Florida fails to do so year after year.”